Author Topic: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays  (Read 1190 times)

BayGBM

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Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« on: October 13, 2010, 09:07:11 PM »
Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

BUFFALO — Carl P. Paladino, the Republican nominee for governor of New York, apologized on Tuesday for delivering comments that offended gay people, even as his campaign manager provoked a new controversy by calling the Democratic nominee, Andrew M. Cuomo, “oily.”

In a letter to the public totaling more than 400 words, Mr. Paladino said in plain language what few expected to hear: “I have made mistakes.”

He had faced widespread criticism for telling Jewish leaders on Sunday that children should not be “brainwashed” into thinking homosexuality was “an equally valid and successful option” — and for later expressing revulsion at gay pride parades.

But shortly after the apology was released, Mr. Paladino’s campaign manager, Michael R. Caputo, prompted another flare-up by saying Mr. Cuomo was “a very experienced, very polished, very smooth, very oily kind of career politician.”

Asked for Mr. Cuomo’s response to being referred to by Mr. Caputo as “oily,” Marissa Shorenstein, a campaign spokeswoman said, “He doesn’t merit a response.”

The two men, along with five other candidates for governor, will face off in a debate on Monday night at Hofstra University.

In his letter, Mr. Paladino did not back down from the content of his remarks on homosexuality, though he acknowledged that he “should have chosen better words.” He described himself as a “live-and-let-live person” and said his views on same-sex marriage matched those of President Obama.

“If elected as your governor, I will stand and fight for all gay New Yorkers’ rights,” Mr. Paladino wrote. “I ask you for forgiveness on my poorly chosen words.”

Gay advocates said Mr. Paladino’s apology came too late and did little to mitigate his harsh words.

The City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who is the city’s highest-ranking openly gay official, said: “This is not a question of choosing poor words or a misinterpretation of his remarks. His beliefs are wrong and filled with hate.”

And Brian Ellner, an advocate for same-sex marriage who represents the group Human Rights Campaign, said he still believed Mr. Paladino was unfit to be governor. Still, Mr. Ellner added, “It’s appropriate that he recognize that his language was hurtful and grossly inappropriate.”

Mr. Paladino’s remarks on Sunday garnered criticism from many corners, including from fellow Republicans. On Monday, he received further condemnation when he defiantly refused to apologize and added that he was “disgusted” by some of the behavior and attire displayed at gay pride parades, including one he happened upon in Toronto with his wife.

Mr. Paladino blamed the news media on Tuesday for turning his remarks into an overheated controversy. “I am not perfect,” he wrote. “I will reach out to leaders of the gay community to educate me on how to better represent my support for the rights of all citizens.”

Gay advocates were particularly incensed by a reference to homosexuality as “dysfunctional” in a draft of Mr. Paladino’s speech made public on Sunday.

Mr. Paladino never delivered that remark, and in his letter, he explained that he had redacted the reference before the speech because he considered it “unacceptable.”

He has said it was included at the suggestion of Orthodox Jewish rabbis. On Tuesday, at a news conference in Albany, Mr. Caputo took responsibility for the appearance of the remark, saying he had cooperated with the Orthodox community in writing the statement. “The speech mistake is on me,” he said.

Asked why Mr. Paladino had waited 24 hours to apologize after defending himself during various appearances on Monday, Mr. Caputo said that Mr. Paladino’s efforts to explain himself and put his remarks into context had not gotten through to the public and that Mr. Paladino had been urged by gay friends and family to speak out more directly. As Mr. Paladino met with business leaders and appeared at a fund-raiser in Albany, more than 50 protesters gathered outside his offices in downtown Buffalo.

Many chanted “Paladino must go!” Others held rainbow-colored flags. A boy in a stroller held a sign reading, “I was not brainwashed.”

BayGBM

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2010, 09:08:32 PM »
Sounds like the tough guy got an ass whipping!  ;D

BayGBM

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2010, 09:22:50 PM »
Rabbi Breaks With Paladino Over Apology
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS

Well, that didn’t last long.

The alliance between the Republican Carl P. Paladino and an Orthodox rabbi from Brooklyn has fallen apart, with the rabbi denouncing Mr. Paladino on Wednesday for his apology over remarks he had made about homosexuality on Sunday.

The rabbi, Yehuda Levin, who helped write those remarks, said Mr. Paladino “folded like a cheap camera” because of the uproar they had set off. And the rabbi said he could no longer support Mr. Paladino’s candidacy for governor of New York.

“Which part of the speech that you gave in Brooklyn to the Orthodox Jewish community are you apologizing for?” Rabbi Levin asked at a news conference in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, on Fifth Avenue. “Will we see you next year with your daughter at that gay pride march?”

Mr. Paladino, during a meeting with a small Orthodox congregation that was arranged by Rabbi Levin, said Sunday that children should not be “brainwashed” into thinking that homosexuality was acceptable, and he criticized his Democratic opponent, Andrew M. Cuomo, for marching with his daughters in New York City’s gay pride parade.

On Tuesday, after broad condemnation, Mr. Paladino apologized for his “poorly chosen words” and said he would “fight for all gay New Yorkers’ rights” if elected.

Rabbi Levin said that he considered the apology a betrayal, and that he pined for the “old Carl” who spoke from his heart rather than bending to political whims.

Rabbi Levin said he was especially upset that Mr. Paladino gave him no notice that he planned to back away from the comments.

“I was in the middle of eating a kosher pastrami sandwich,” Rabbi Levin said. "While I was eating it, they come running and they say, ‘Paladino became gay!’ I said, ‘What?’ And then they showed me the statement. I almost choked on the kosher salami.”

Mr. Paladino, of course, had not become gay, but had announced that he wanted to clarify that he embraced gay rights and opposed discrimination. In explaining his views, Mr. Paladino and his aides noted that he had a gay nephew who worked for the campaign.

That seemed to bother Rabbi Levin as well. He accused Mr. Paladino of deciding to apologize because “his gay nephew or his family told him so.”

“He discovered now he has a gay nephew?” the rabbi said. “Mazel tov! We’ll make a coming-out party!”

Rabbi Levin said he chose to hold his news conference at the cathedral because he hoped Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan would take a stand on the controversy involving Mr. Paladino’s remarks.

Mr. Paladino made two stops in Brooklyn on Sunday, one at a yeshiva and the second at a synagogue in Williamsburg. Rabbi Levin has said that he wrote the first set of remarks and helped shape Mr. Paladino’s comments at the second stop in which he talked about homosexuality. Mr. Paladino’s campaign manager said that he reviewed the remarks, as did the candidate, but that they should have been more sensitive to the language and the furor the comments would create.

Rabbi Levin said Wednesday that Mr. Paladino probably did not write his apology either. He suggested that “militant gays” wrote it and handed it to a naïve Mr. Paladino.

“Believe me, I spoke to Carl Paladino,” Rabbi Levin said. “He doesn’t know half the stuff that has to do with the gay agenda.”

Despite his unhappiness, Rabbi Levin did leave the door open for a reconciliation. “Carl, we’ll leave the light on for you,” he said. “Come back, Carl.”

At a campaign stop at a water-bottling plant in Forestport, N.Y., Mr. Paladino shrugged off Rabbi Levin’s criticism, saying he wanted to stick to the issues.

“We’re on message,” Mr. Paladino said. “That’s it.”

BM OUT

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2010, 07:26:25 AM »
Paladino told the truth in his first statement.The gay parades are disgusting and that is why they dont cover them at all on television.Gays are about 3% of the polpullation,despite their wild claims of 15%,who gives a flying fuck if someone insults them.

LurkerNoMore

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2010, 07:45:55 AM »
How do you or he know what goes on at gay pride parades then?

Kazan

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2010, 07:56:09 AM »
Why does their need to be a gay pride parade in the first place?
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

LurkerNoMore

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2010, 08:11:00 AM »
A better question is if they are all for unity and appreciating diversity, why does there need to be a Gay Black Pride Parade.  Yes, they exist.

BM OUT

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2010, 08:30:30 AM »
How do you or he know what goes on at gay pride parades then?

Ever see pictures of them.They arent on regular web sites only conservative ones show how disgusting those fools are.The libs try to hide it as they know the entire country already hates fags and dont want to add fuel to the fire.

Soul Crusher

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2010, 08:33:26 AM »
Paladino threw the race away with this nonsense. 


What a waste. 

BayGBM

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LurkerNoMore

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2010, 08:48:29 AM »
Ever see pictures of them.They arent on regular web sites only conservative ones show how disgusting those fools are.The libs try to hide it as they know the entire country already hates fags and dont want to add fuel to the fire.

That isn't saying much.  I mean, do you think conservative websites are going to run pics of the normal gay pride parade goers or the tiny percentage that act retarded?  That isn't a valid viewpoint when presented on a biased platform site.

The Showstoppa

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2010, 09:11:04 AM »
Another example of a politician caving in to pressure.  Damn, why can't ANY of them just state what they f'n believe and stand by it?

BM OUT

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2010, 09:53:15 AM »
That isn't saying much.  I mean, do you think conservative websites are going to run pics of the normal gay pride parade goers or the tiny percentage that act retarded?  That isn't a valid viewpoint when presented on a biased platform site.

A few years ago in New York,as the homos drove by ST.PATRICKS Cathedrial,they dropped their pants and mooned the Cardinal and many of them were having simulated sex.Now,of course we could argue that Priests probably liked it,but there were kids in the crowd.

I agree that concervatives would show them in the worse light[never see with the left and the tea partires of course]but the fact is,if guys are in dog collars with leashes,thats a freaking wied scene in public.

Soul Crusher

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2010, 11:18:11 AM »
Thw Twinks at DU are in meltdown over Jarrets' remarks today.  Jarrett blew up a grenade today!


Ha ha - i love watching the cat fight amongst the far left factions. 

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9310491




Dos Equis

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2010, 11:21:03 AM »
Not sure he was ever going to win, but he really crucified himself. 

Soul Crusher

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #15 on: October 14, 2010, 11:23:14 AM »
Not sure he was ever going to win, but he really crucified himself. 

Check out my thread linking to DU - HS!   Those twinks at DU are in complete meltdown over this. 

BayGBM

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Re: Paladino Apologizes for Remarks About Gays
« Reply #16 on: October 14, 2010, 01:37:04 PM »
"Somebody messes with me, I'm gonna mess with him" 

                                    --the gay mafia

;D